She's Got A Bad Case Of Loving You
by BeyondBelief01
Summary: When Emma gets sick, there's her very own knight in shining armor, Will Schuester, to help her.
1. Chapter 1

**She's Got A Bad Case… of Loving You**** [Will/Emma]**

**This is my first Glee-fic! I'm a big Will/Emma shipper so it's not weird my first story is about them.**

**I got this idea after…I don't know when I got this idea but I thought it was weird nobody had written sick!Emma/comforting!Will-fics before. So I wrote this piece. More chapters are coming up, but I haven't written them yet. I meantime, enjoy the first chaper!**

Disclaimer: Glee is not mine. If it were, Santana and Brittany would be dating.

**Chapter One**

It was Friday, the last day of the week. The last day before it was weekend. And quite frankly, Emma needed that weekend harder than ever before. She barely ever complained about things, but today she really wasn't feeling well. She had already sneezed a lot of times, and she really, _really_ hated sneezing. It meant that she needed tissues around her all the time and that she needed to wash her hands two or three times after she had sneezed. Her troath felt as dry as a desert, even though she had drunk several glasses of water this morning. Worse was, when she was standing, she felt dizzy.

Just before the school was about to begin, she was preparing things for the day in her office. The first students were already walking around. Emma was making sure the piles of papers on her desk were neatly sorted. Three piles with exactly the same amount of papers, all in one line. When she was done, she felt another sneeze burning in her nose. She grabbed a fresh tissue, but the feeling faded away and she didn't have to sneeze after all. It did leave her with a pair of watery eyes though. Exactly at that time, Will Schuester decided to walk by. He looked through her window and waved, a smile on his face. When she didn't respond he stopped and walked into her door.

"Hey Emma, are you alright?"

"Oh, hi Will! Yes, I'm fine, thanks for asking."

She noticed a little smear on her office-window and she stood up to get some window-cleaner from her closet. She realized she shouldn't have done that. Before she knew she was swaying on her feet. She was a fool if she thought Will wouldn't notice that.

"Are you sure you're fine? Because you look a little pale and unbalanced," he asked.

"I'm fine Will, really, I am."

Will shook his head and guided her back to her chair. He looked a little bit worried about her.

"Just sit here and wait a minute, I'll be back soon," he said and he quickly walked out of her office, leaving the door open. She had no idea what he was going to do, but he returned within a few minutes.

Without saying a word, he moved towards her desk, making sure he didn't touch anything. He leaned down and put his right hand against her forehead carefully.

If anybody else did that, Emma knew she would've freaked out. Big time. With him, she didn't care so much as with others.

She gasped, but this time it was not because she was freaking out. It wasn't because of his skin touching hers. It was because his hand was so cold, really cold. It almost made her shiver.

"Will, why is your hand so cold?" she asked, without being able to move, almost frozen in time.

"I thought you wouldn't appreciate it if I touched you with unwashed hands, so I just washed them with disinfectant soap. Twice."

She looked at him and blinked. He had done that for her, but why? Even if he had done that for the reason she could only dream of, well, even then, she didn't deserve him. After their kiss a few weeks ago they hadn't talked about it a lot, but she wanted him to truly like her. Sometimes it still felt like a fairytale. She sighed as she was knocked into reality by the words Will said next:

"Other than that, my hand is not much colder than usual. I think you're actually sick, Emma. I'm pretty sure you've got fever. Maybe it's better if you go home for today."

"Oh no, no, don't say that, I'm fine. I'm not sick. I can't, I can't just go home because of a little fever I might have," Emma said, shaking her head defensively.

Will shook his head as well, "fever is something to be taken seriously. If you stay here you might even get sicker. That's something neither you and I want. I will be responsible if you faint, I don't want that to happen, ever."

"But…I just can't, I mean, the kids, what if they have really urgent problems?" she stuttered.

"Emma, you've never missed a day, you've never called in sick since you started working here. I don't think it would be a big problem if you missed one day. Figgins, but also the kids, will understand that."

Her lips formed the first letter of the word she wanted to say, but Will quickly interrupted her while softly touching her hand to reassure her he meant what he said. She didn't pull her hand away.

"Go home. Put on some warm clothes. Drink some tea or orange juice. Take some rest. That should help you to feel better soon."

Emma didn't feel like saying anything. She suddenly felt very tired.

"You know what," Will said, "I'll drop by after I'm done at school, I'll see how you're doing."

She nodded her head and she stood up carefully, grabbing her bag and she rearranged her papers and pencils a little bit. Will looked like he suddenly came to realize something.

"I'm not letting you drive when you're feeling like this."

She looked up and blinked twice. The sound of the buzzer was the sign for the first classes to start.

"I'll drive you home. I'll go and cancel my first class."

"Will, you don't have to do that for me, I can drive. Don't cancel your first class."

Will raised his eyebrows and looked at her like she was a naughtly little kid who had been caught throwing stones at a dog.

"Emma, in this case you are more important than my lessons. You should see yourself, you can barely stand on your feet."

She shrugged while leaning on her desk to keep her balance. "Alright, but can we go with my car? I mean, it might get stolen if it stays in the parking lot."

A slight smile spread across Wills face.

"Good. Let me carry your bag."

She didn't try to argue, but gave him her bag and slowly walked through her door, leaving her office behind. Will stopped to tell his students the first class of the day had been cancelled and the students didn't seem to mind. He guided Emma outside to her car, his hand lightly resting on the small of her back, in a way she could barely feel it. She didn't care about the possible transmission of germs. There was fabric in between. And this was Will, after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**First, I want to thank you ****guys, for all the views I got on this story!!! Glee obviously is a popular fandom, but I never got so many people reading a story I wrote and it was only the first day! I thank the reviewers on last chapter, but also my silent readers, yes guys, I can see you in the statistics! (I apologize for the over-use of exclamation marks.)**

**I think it's amusing that nobody pointed out my small mistake in last chapter. Maybe because I forgot to tell you the story is set after **_**Sectionals**_**.**

**  
This part might be a bit dreadful, but that's the way I intended it. I mean, when I'm ill, everything seems to go in slowmotion, so I thought I could write it that way. I figured Emma might be suffering from acute laryngitis. I chose that, because I have a lot of experience with it, I've had it several times. It doesn't make you nauseous or vomit or anything (I mean, I'm not **_**that**_** evil) but it just hurts an aweful lot and gives you fever which can raise very high.**

**Well, on to the second chapter!**

**Chapter Two**

While Will was driving her home in her own car, Emma tried to focus on one point to make the dizzyness go away. It didn't work. The movements of the car made her feel even more unbalanced. She wasn't nauseous -thank god she wasn't- she was just feeling dizzy. She closed her eyes, hoping it might help. It did, but only for a while. Then, Will noticed.

"Are you okay?" he frowned, "don't answer that, I can see you're not okay."

"I'm just feeling dizzy," was all she said and she opened her eyes.

His frown was still there, "dizzy? Are you feeling nauseous, too?"

Emma shook her head lightly. Her reaction didn't seem to make his worries disappear, but the frown on his face did disappear. She closed her eyes again and started to daydream with closed eyes.

Will was the one that had convinced her to stay at McKinley High even after she had sent her resignation letter. He had been the one that made her feel like a lovetruck teenage girl every day, over and over again. He had been the one that kissed her when she was about to leave the school. And now he was the one taking care of her. He was the one that... Well, simply put, he was _the one_.

She opened her eyes again when the car stopped. From her window she could see the apartment building she lived in. For a second, she wondered how (and why) he knew where she lived, but she didn't ask any questions.

She got out of the car by herself, showing him that she didn't need his help. Carrying her bag, he guided her to her apartment. When she stopped in front of her door, she took the bag from his hands, got her key and opened the door. She entered her own, perfect place.

Will was still standing outside her door, looking a bit uncomfortable.

"You can come in if you want to," she said while taking of her coat and shoes, "but you can't stay too long, you need to go back to teach the kids."

He smiled and did one step inside her apartment.

"Are you sure you'll manage?" he asked while he looked around and nodded approvingly.

"I think so, yes. I mean, I've been sick before, and I survived back then, without...well, without you," she said.

"Alright, I got it, I need to go. Remember, you need to drink a lot, if you don't want to drink tea, water is good enough. It will help to lose the fever. And really important is that you need to take some rest."

Emma nodded and sighed. It might have looked impatient, because Will came closer, their bodies were nearly touching. He lowered his voice.

"I just want you to get better, you understand that?" he said with a serious tone, while he looked right into her eyes, "I care about you, Emma."

Her cheeks were suddenly feeling very hot and she knew it wasn't the fault of the fever. She wanted to say something, but nothing came out of her mouth. Will turned around, starting to move towards the door as he was about to leave. He thought of something and turned around one more time.

"I'll be here again after school, to check if you're alright. If you think your fever is rising a lot in a short time, or if you feel like you need me for something, just call me."

Emma nodded once and after that, he was gone, for real this time. She shut the door behind him and swallowed deeply. Her throat was hurting. She had the sudden urge to clean the floor, because millions of germs from outside had been carried in on the soles of the shoes that had just been standing on her floor. She didn't want to rest at all, but she realized that maybe it was the right thing to do, as she was feeling more miserable with the minute. She wanted to go to her warm, safe bed.

She walked straight to her bedroom without taking of her make-up. Sometimes she had to steady herself against the wall, but she managed to get in her bedroom without falling, or sawing too much. She got a clean pair of pyjama trousers from her closet and a clean tank top and she started to undress herself. Once she had put her nightclothes on, she didn't have the energy to fold her clothes neatly. She pulled back the corner of the bedsheet, first she put her right foot under the sheet, then her left foot. Her usual ritual. It felt alright, even in her condition and it made her relax a little bit.

As soon as she had put out the light and her head hit the pillow, she was sleeping.

Time passed by. Emma didn't notice it had started to rain. She didn't hear her neighbours having a fight about their cat. She didn't hear the airplane breaking through the sound barrier. She slept, that was all she did.

When she woke up, her throat felt thick and she didn't want to swallow, afraid it might hurt too much. Her whole body was burning, the fever had certainly gotten worse. She looked at the small clock on her nightstand. She had slept way longer than she thought, it was almost 3 PM, which meant Will would be there in less than an hour. She needed to get decent. She was in desperate need for a shower.

When she got out of her bed (left foot first, then her right foot), she noticed she was as dizzy as she was before. She sat down on the edge of her bed. She couldn't stand longer than a minute, so it would be impossible to take a shower. Realizing that, she started to sob. Not just a little bit, the tears were streaming down her face and she couldn't help it. All she wanted was to feel clean again, but she couldn't. She tried to get up again, and this time she succeeded to reach her bathroom without swaying once.

When she got there, she felt like she had spilt all her energy and she needed to sit down on the edge of her bath. She put on her soft, blue bathrobe. She got the glass on the edge of the sink, washed it twice and filled it with water. When she swallowed the water, her throat ached an aweful lot. She stood up, steadying herself against the sink and looked in the mirror. Her cheeks were pale, but her eyes were red. Her make-up had left stains on her cheeks. Her hair was a mess. She looked horrible and she was almost terrified by the image she saw. She sat back on the edge of the bath with her face in her hands and she started sobbing again.

The bell rang.

Emma's brains went into panic mode. She wasn't ready to face Will yet! She needed a shower, she needed to get clean!

The bell rang again.

She didn't move. Her brains were racing at full speed, but there weren't any plausible scenarios in her head. She needed to open the door, otherwise Will would think something's wrong.

"Emma? Are you alright?" she heard his voice asking.

She couldn't yell back, so she got up slowly. The dizzyness started to irritate her, she needed to get to that stupid door now. She mentally slapped herself and tried to correct her vision. She finally reached her front door, but everything was blurry and...yellow? Her view had become yellowish and it scared her. A lot.

She opened the door and she had to steady herself against the wall again. All she could see when she had opened the door was Will, looking very worried. He didn't have the chance to say something.

"Why is everything yellow?" Emma asked, breathing hard, and after that, everything went from yellow to black.


	3. Chapter 3

**Guys****, you are great, I really appreciate your views and reviews! Oh and please, if you find any grammar mistakes, please point them out to me. English still isn't my native language and I'd like to learn from my mistakes. ;)**

**As I said, I based Emma's illness on what I've experienced myself, so that includes the hallucination (seeing everything yellow) and the fainting, she's fainting because of the fever. People tend to faint when their fever rises too much, it cools their body a bit.**

**This chapter might be a little bit childish, but I had a lot of fun writing it. I already started to write on the next chapter, so that one will be online tomorrow, I guess.**

**Anyway, here is the third chapter, I hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 3**

When Emma woke up she was lying down on a hard surface.

_That's odd_, she thought, _I didn't remember falling_. Then she realized she was lying _on the floor_. All she wanted to do now was to get up, and run away to get a long shower. When she tried to get up, she couldn't. A hand was stopping her upper arm from moving and she would've screamed if her throat hadn't hurt so much. She tried to jerk her arm away from whoever was touching her, her eyes suddenly wide open.

"Ssssh, it's alright, it's just me," an all too familiar voice said.

"Will..." she whispered.

"Yes, it's me," he paused for a few seconds, but he didn't take away his hand on her arm, "Emma, I'm so sorry for putting you on the floor, but you just fell, and then you started shaking. Don't you remember that?"

She shook her head softly, her eyes still open. She noticed that her vision had returned to normal. At least that was a good thing.

"You fainted," Will concluded and again he didn't say anything for a while. Emma desperately wanted to get off the floor, but she didn't move. It felt like an hour had passed when he spoke again.

"Emma? I understand how much you want to get up again. Would you like to try to get on your feet?"

She nodded.

"If you want me to help, just tell me, but then I'll have to touch you."

For the first time since she woke up she said a whole sentence.

"I don't mind if you are touching me," and she accidentally put more emphasis on you than she had intended.

Those words made him smile, where he had looked very worried and serious before.

"Okay, let's get you up then," he said, "we're going to do this slowly, I don't want you to faint again."

Slowly, just like Will had said, she lifted her head a little bit. When that didn't hurt or made her really dizzy, she lifted it a little further and she started to lift her upper body with her arms.

"You alright?" Will asked and Emma nodded while she tried to steady her feet on the ground, so she could lift the rest of her body as well. Trying to move her legs she almost fell backward as a result of the blood flowing back into her legs. Before she had the chance to fall again, she felt his hands on her body. One one her shoulder, the other one on her waist. As soon as she had regained her balance, Will dropped his hands next to his body. The weird thing was, she didn't want him to let go of her _that_ soon.

"You still alright?" he asked again.

"I'm fine. I feel better now than I did before. I'm still a little bit dizzy, but that will go away eventually, I hope," she answered, "but I'm afraid to stand for a long time, I don't want to end up on the ground again."

"Why would you want to stand for a long time? I mean, you can just lie down in your bed or on your couch if you want," Will said, he didn't quite seem to understand.

"Will," Emma said, her lip trembling, "I really need to take a shower now, or I'll might faint again of all the germs sticking on me."

"I see. Are there any other options? I mean, do you have a bath? You could take a bath, so you don't have to stand."

"Well, yes, I guess I could, but do you want to wait that long? I mean, it could take a while."

"That's no problem, take your time. I have nowhere else to go, nobody is expecting me to come home for tonight."

A painful silence spread across the room. Emma knew Will lived somewhere else since he had found out about Terri not carrying a baby. The thing was, officially they were still married.

Will was the one to break the silence.

"Do you think you can take a bath yourself? I mean, well...can you?"

"I think I can manage this time, for real," she replied and she found herself almost disappointed that he didn't offer to help her. At the same time she thought that would have been ridiculous.

She walked towards her bedroom to get some clean clothes. Her walk was still a bit wobbly, but she defenitely walked better than before. When she came out of her room, she saw that Will was still standing on the place he was standing when she went to her room.

"You can watch some tv if you like," she said, secretly smiling at his almost shy attitude. It was like he was waking up when she said that to him, because he smiled gratefully and he turned around to go to the living room.

"Oh and Will? Could you please take off your shoes and put them at the front door?"

"Sure, Emma," he replied with a smile and he walked away.

She got to her bathroom, but she didn't lock it. Will would never look at her, would he? She shook her head. Of course he wouldn't. She turned on both the hot and the cold water. It was a good thing she had cleaned her bath thoroughly yesterday, otherwise she would never have taken a bath in it. While the water level was rising, she undressed herself and she got all the soap and other cleaning stuff she needed. She also poured a little bit of bubble bath in the water, just for the nice smell.

When she got into her bath, the temperature was just perfect. Finally, she could relax after everything that she had gone through, and she could finally clean herself. She closed her eyes and breathed. Her throat still hurted, but it seemed like it had faded away a little bit since Will had arrived, or maybe that was just wishful thinking.

She had to refresh the water twice, partly because of the water losing its temperature and partly because of the water not being fresh anymore. The bubbles had been gone by the second time, so she was able to wash her hair, which was really inconvenient, but it was the best she could. After she was done, she refreshed the water another time.

After twenty minutes, she was finally done. When she wanted to get out of the bath, she realized with a shock that she hadn't brought any clean towels from her room. She was not a person who swore easily, but this time she was swearing under her breath. This was not good. How could she forget _towels_ when she was taking a bath?

She summed up the things she could possibly do. She could get out of bath, with the possibility of slipping on the wet tiles and getting knocked out after that. She could also wait until she had been dried enough to put on her bathrobe and slip through the door without Will noticing anything, but that would take too long and it wasn't really a good idea, looking at her current condition. There was also a third option: attract Will's attention, so he could bring the towels from her bedroom to her bathroom, but then he would have to see her like this.

Of those three options, she thought the third one was the best, even though she didn't want to make Will think that she needed him for everything she did. She made a decision, she was going to do it. She coughed once and proceeded to produce enough sound with her voice for Will to hear her.

"Will!"

She heard him moving and knocking on the door. She didn't know why he did that, maybe it was a habit.

"You're alright in there?" he asked.

"I'm fine, don't worry, I just need you...to do me a favour."

"Tell me, I'll do it for you."

"I forgot uhm, to get clean towels from my room. Could you uhm, get me two towels from the closet in my bedroom?"

She heard him hesitate before he spoke again.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. And uhm...I think you need to get in here after you got them, because I can't reach them if you just drop them next to the door."

"O-kay..." she heard him hesitate again, but she also heard his soft footsteps on the floor. After a few minutes he came back and he knocked on the door again.

"I got the towels. Can I come in? I mean, you might want to get covered by whatever you can get covered with and I'll close my eyes once I'm in," Will said.

Emma cursed inside her head for refreshing the water so many times so the bubbles had been gone. The sighed deeply and pulled up her knees so nothing was showing too much. The water still distorted the image.

"I think you can come in now," she said.

The door opened slowly and Will came in at the same speed, his eyes closed firmly. He only did one step.

"Could you guide me? I don't know where I'm going," he said, and directly after that, he hit the wall.

"Auch!" he yelled and in the sudden pain, he forgot to close his eyes.

She knew he was looking at her.

She was looking back.

She didn't know what he was seeing.

In a few seconds, a lot of things can happen.

Maybe it was the shock, maybe it was something else, but Will didn't remember that he had promised to close his eyes. He put the towels on the small cabinet standing next to the bath so she could reach them, turned around and left the bathroom.

The last things she saw before he left were his flushed face and neck.

She grabbed one towel and began to dry herself, noticing how good it felt to feel nice and clean again.


	4. Chapter 4

**Again, I'd like to thank my readers and reviewers. Does mentioning this every**** time makes me sound like a slimeball? I'm sorry, I'm just grateful, haha!**

**This story is going to have way more chapters than I originally intented.**** I mean, the first day in the story isn't even finished yet and there are more days to come! Maybe I'm taking things too slow? If so, please tell me, I will speed things up if I have to! I'm already about to skip some time in the next chapter. ;)  
**

**Anyway,**** I love writing on this story so much and I really like writing Will/Emma, even though I sometimes feel like they're a bit OOC, or maybe that's just me.**

**I've also got some sad news: my S-key died. I can still use it, but the key is missing from my keyboard. It's quite inconvenient but I'll manage!**

**Next chapter is coming up tomorrow or even later this day, I've already written the biggest part of it.**

**Chapter 4**

Emma came out of the bathroom in a light grey jumper, an old but clean pair of blue jeans and thick, woolen socks. She hadn't made an attempt to dress nicely or put on make-up, for now it was good enough to feel comfortable in the clothes she was wearing.

She got to the kitchen where she got a glass of water. When she walked into the living room, she saw Will sitting on the couch, staring blankly at the television. She thought it was strange that there was no sound coming from the television, but maybe he had turned the sound off.

She looked at the screen and she saw it was black. There was not a single program showing on the television.

"Will?" she asked, "why are you staring at the tv when it's off?"

Will looked at her, and from his eyes she could see he was absent-minded. He shook his head, probably to rearrange his thoughts and now he looked at her for real. She put her glass on the table and sat down next to him on the couch. His head turned in her direction.

He didn't answer her question, he asked one instead.

"What time is it?" he asked while he rubbed his hand against the back of his head. Emma didn't expect that question, so it took her a few seconds to answer. She looked at the clock on the wall and she thought he probably asked that question because he was a little bit confused. Or maybe he simply hadn't seen the clock.

"It's half past five, why? Do you have to go already?" she asked, looking a bit disappointed, "I mean, you're not obliged to stay here, but I thought, you know, you'd stay longer."

"Oh, no, no, I don't have to go, but I figured that, if you want to something to eat or if you need anything else, I need to go to the store to get it," he replied, "and now you're feeling better than before, I thought I could leave you alone for a few minutes."

"I'm not really hungry," she said, "and I guess I won't be able to eat a lot when my throat hurts so much," she added.

He nodded, "I understand. Can I bring you something else? Painkillers? A magazine maybe?"

Emma smiled lightly. He was such a sweet man, and even if she didn't have him, she didn't deserve him.

"I think I still have some painkillers in the bathroom, so I don't need those. I don't need magazines either, because I don't like it if a lot of people have touched something before I get it," she explained, "so you don't have to go to buy anything, at least, not for me."

Will opened his mouth to say something, but instead his stomach rumbled. Emma giggled.

"That sounds like you're the one who needs to get something to eat."

Will laughed, "I think you're right."

Right after that, his face became serious again, maybe even a little bit uncomfortable.

"Uhm, Emma, I got a question. It would also be in favour of you, but if you don't want me to, just tell me," he said.

"Ask me, Will. I mean, you've done a lot for me already, so if I can do something for you, just ask."

"Could I stay here for tonight? In case something might happen?" he asked, "Of course, I don't want to invite myself, that would just be rude. I mean, If you'd tell me to go, I'll be gone the next second, but I just want to be there for you, just in case. I don't want you to faint again when I'm not there to take care of you. I would never forgive myself if that happened."

Emma couldn't help herself, she looked a bit shocked, she didn't know what to say, so she bit on her lip. It became even worse when Will slightly touched her hand. Her brains wanted to withdraw her hand, her heart didn't want to. Her heart won by large margin.

"I meant what I said before," he spoke softly, "I really care about you. A lot."

She felt her cheeks burn again. Then she did something that was very unlike her and she didn't know why she acted like this. It was a spurr of the moment, but it felt right.

With her uncovered hand she cupped his hand, so it was sandwiched between both her hands.

Will obviously didn't expect her to do that, judging from his confused face. Then he smiled, but he didn't move.

"It's alright," she said, "you can stay here for tonight. You can stay here as long as you want. I mean, as long as I might need your help, you can stay here. I just don't have a spare bedroom, so I'm afraid you'll have to sleep on the couch."

There was only one possible description for the look on Will's face: relieved.

"That means I can stay? You're great, Emma!" he said happily, withdrawing his hand carefully as he got up from the couch.

"Where are you going?" Emma asked. Her cheeks still felt really hot, even though she knew the fever had dropped.

"I'm going to the store get something to eat, remember? Then I'm going to get some of my own stuff I might need here," Will explained, "oh, don't bother," he said when he saw she was trying to get up as well, "I know where the door is, I can get out myself."

He put on his jacket, which he had left with his shoes, and just before he was about to leave, he turned around, waved once and said, "I'll be right back!"

Then he was gone. Again.

Emma sighed. She got the empty glass and walked to the kitchen where she put on rubber gloves and she started to clean the glass. She didn't have a dishwasher on purpose, because she felt the washing-up would be cleaner if she did it herself. She often did it twice, the more, the better.

When she was done with the glass, she felt the urge to clean the kitchen floor. She knew Will had said she should take rest, and cleaning certainly wasn't resting. She was a sensible woman, but her kitchen really needed to be clean. Her skin already started to itch at the thought of the germs that could possibly be on the floor, the moment she was standing on it.

She started to fill a bucket with water and she got a strong floor cleaner from her closet. When she was halfway done with cleaning the floor, the bell rang. She realized the time flew when she was cleaning. She got on her feet, took off her gloves and walked towards the door. She was happy to notice the dizzyness had faded away.

Will stepped in the moment she opened the door. He was carrying two bags, one was his own and one contained the products he had brought from the store. He took off his shoes and his jacket. Then he seemed to notice the nice smell of freshness coming from the kitchen.

"Emma, have you been cleaning?" he said, raising his eyebrows.

"Y-yes, I have, but don't get angry, Will. It needed to be done, it really needed to be done!" she defended herself.

Will shook his head, "Look, I'm not angry, only concerned about your health. I told you to take some rest, you can't exhaust your body by cleaning or other activities like that."

She was disappointed by what he said, but she was also happy that he wasn't angry and she knew that what he said made sense.

"I know, I'm sorry," she muttered.

"Hey, you don't have to be. Look, I bought you something," Will said while he opened one of the bags and looked for whatever he wanted to show her, "maybe it's a bit silly, but, ahh, here it is," he said while he got a small, white envelope, "I don't think many people have touched this, it was in plastic and I removed that, so I think I'm the only one who did touch it. You can open it if you want."

Emma slowly took the envelope from his hands and opened it. Inside was a small card with on the front a sad looking bear with a thermometer in his mouth and the text "Get Well Soon". When she opened the card, she directly saw his scribbly handwriting.

_I hope you get wel soon, Emma_

_Will_

"That's really sweet, Will, thank you!" she exclaimed, but she didn't know if she felt like laughing or crying. She was feeling like she was on an emotional rollercoaster today. Without saying anything, she turned her back to him and walked to the living room to give the card a nice place. Will followed her, but he also remained silent.

When she had put the card on a good, visible place, she turned around and she realized she actually was quite hungry now. Her eyes went to the bag Will was still carrying. It was like he could read her mind, because before she could say anything, he said,

"Are you sure you're not hungry?"

"Actually, I am," she replied quickly.

"Ahh, I see. I bought a salad, would you like a bit of that?"

She nodded. That was good enough for now. She went to the kitchen to get another glass of water.


	5. Chapter 5

**Woosh, next chapter! I wrote this before Christmas, but I thought people would be busy, so they couldn't read it. That's why I didn't update the story for one day. Oh well I guess I can miss a day, right? ;)**

**I made a small jump in time, because I thought it was better. I realized Emma hasn't measured her temperature yet. Failure from my side, haha, I mean, that's the most important when you've got fever, right? Also, I'm not familiar with Fahrenheit, so I hope it's done alright.**

**For this chapter it was oh-so-convenient that I also happen to have Spanish classes at school. If there are any mistakes in the Spanish text, even though it's really small, I'm sorry. My Spanish isn't as good as my English. **

**Well, I hope you like it!**

**Chapter 5 **

Dinner went surprisingly well. The burning in her throat had faded a bit, so Emma could eat without having too much pain.

After dinner, Emma insisted on doing the washing-up first. Will let her, but he insisted on helping. Emma let him.

After everything had been cleaned, they watched some tv and Emma's favourite soap was on. Will didn't really like it but he politely watched it.

Around midnight, just before she was about to go to bed, Will came with the idea to measure her temperature. He told her he was sorry about not thinking about that sooner and he asked if she had a thermometer to measure the body temperature.

"I do have one that measures through the ear. I need to find a clean cap first though, but uhm, it's really inconvenient to do the measuring yourself. Could you, well maybe, if you'd want to, maybe you could help?" she knew that, if he said yes, body contact would be inevitable. She shivered at the thought, she wasn't quite sure if it was a good or a bad thing.

"Alright, I'll help. Do I need to wash my hands first?"

"Uhm, yes please," of course she prefered touching with clean, germ-free hands. Even if those hands belonged to Will Schuester.

After Will had washed his hands and she had found new caps for the thermometer, she explained him how it worked. She told him he had to pull back her ear a bit, hold in the button and insert the thermometer and after three seconds he had to let go of the button so the measuring could be done.

"You're ready?" he asked and she nodded,"Here we go," he said while he pulled a strand of hair behind her ear. He gently pulled her ear back and let the thermometer do the measuring. Every second he touched her it seemed like a minute to Emma. The place on her ear where Will was touching her felt like they were on fire. When he withdrew his hand she almost found herself mourning at the loss.

"Here," was all he said and he showed her the display. It said 102 F

"That's not good," she said, not trying to hide the disappointment in her voice.

"No it isn't, but it's evening, no, night. Fever always gets a little bit worse then."

"I know, but it's, well..."

"Disappointing?" Will added.

"Yes, disappointing."

"A fever like this doesn't fade in one day, it takes more days, sometimes even weeks."

Emma's eyes widened when he said that.

"No, no, no, don't say that, I need to go back to school at Monday, I can't just stay at home!" she exclaimed and she rubbed her hands over her knees, because she felt quite frustrated all of a sudden.

"Hey, you shouldn't worry so much, you can't help it if you're sick, you need to give it time," Will said in a soothing voice, "you still have the rest of the weekend to get a lot better and I'll be here as long as you need me."

_Would you stay if I needed you for the rest of my life? _She wanted to say, but she wisely kept her mouth shut. He would think she was rambling, anyway.

She told Will she needed a shower before she went to bed, and that she felt good enough to take one this time. She took a shower, dried her hair and brushed her teeth, twice: her usual go-to-bed ritual. After she was done in the bathroom, she let Will use it and she stayed while he brushed his teeth, making sure he didnt't make too much of a mess.

She thought she'd sleep fast, even though she had already slept a lot, she felt exhausted.

She was very wrong about that.

After two hours tossing and turning, she still hadn't fallen asleep. She got out of her bed and went to the bathroom to drink some water, her throath felt really dry and began to hurt again.

She almost jumped out of her skin when she heard somebody approaching the bathroom. She then calmed down when she realized it was Will. She felt a little bit ashamed, because she knew that her wandering must have woken him up.

"Hey, are you sleepwalking?" she heard him say.

There he was, standing in the doorway in a t-shirt and pyjama bottoms. Even though she was sick, she wasn't crazy. She peeked and admired his arms, she then looked at his bare feet. When he noticed she was staring, he wiggled his toes. She felt her cheeks go red and she looked into the mirror.

"I can't sleep. I keep seeing these images of the kids at school going crazy if they don't get the right advice."

Will grinned, "You worry too much. You'll need something to get your mind of things," he paused for a second, "I think I know how. Go back to your room, make yourself comfortable. I'll be right back."

Emma frowned, but she did what he told her. She turned off the light in the bathroom and she went back to her bedroom. When Will came into her room, she was sitting at her bed with her legs straightened beneath the covers and her back against the wall. She looked up while Will handed her a colorful book.

"I bought this once, because I thought it would be a good practice for some of the students. It's a fairytale," he sighed, "well, as it turned out they didn't actually read it, they just looked at the images."

Emma looked at the book. The cover said _Caperucita Roja_, and showed an image of a little girl with a red cape and a big, grey wolf.

"Will, are you going to read me Little Red Riding Hood?" she couldn't help it: she had to laugh.

"In Spanish," Will added, while he sat down next to her on the bed, and she didn't care about him sitting there. It was the first time a man had been on that half of her bed. Their shoulders were touching and she felt relaxed; it felt so good, so...normal.

"I thought you knew I don't speak Spanish!" she said.

"Don't worry, I'll translate," he explained while he turned the first page and he began to read.

"_Había una vez una chica y se llamaba Caperucita Roja, porque siempre llevaba una capa roja..._Once upon a time, there was a girl and she was called Little Red Riding Hood, because she was always wearing a red cape..."

Time passed while Will read the story and translated for her. They looked at the beautiful illustrations in the book and they laughed at the unlikely story.

"..._y vivieron felices y comieron perdices_...and they lived happily ever after," Will said, and he closed the book.

"I liked that, thanks for reading to me, Will," Emma said gratefully.

"Feeling sleepy yet?" Will asked.

Emma yawned.

"I'll take that as a yes," he grinned, "well, I'll leave you alone then. Goodnight, Em," he said.

He waited for a second, but then he planted a small, soft kiss in her hair.

He smoothly moved off the bed and walked to the door. Standing in the doorway, he turned around and smiled widely before leaving her behind.

Emma was still sitting on her bed, stunned.

She got underneath her covers, put off the light and turned over. The place where Will had been was still warm. She touched it, but it felt like she was missing something. She wanted him to be there, lying there with her, in the pitchdark.

She quickly drifted to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay, on to the next chapter. ****To be honest, I think this chapter sucks pretty much. I'm running out of ideas and I'm only about halfway with this story! That's not a good sign, right? I currently got a lack of inspiration, which is kinda frustrating. All the small ideas I get in my mind are helpful but unfortunately it's not enough to write long chapters. :( **

**If you have any (cute) ideas for the story after this chapter, please tell me, I'd really appreciate it!**

**Also, I have no idea what kind of songs Emma would sing, so I just picked a classic.**

**Chapter 6**

Emma woke up at 6.30 in the morning. She growned. It was Saturday, which meant no obligations, no restrictions. She had all the time she wanted, but of course she had to wake up at this unbelievable time.

She got out of bed, her feet touching the cold floor. First, she checked if the dizzyness had returned, which wasn't the case, so she released a sigh of relief. She put on some warm socks and she went to her front door to get the newspaper. She tiptoed through her appartment, because she didn't want to wake Will. She went to read the paper on the small kitchen table.

When she was halfway the frontpage, she got distracted by something, or somebody, rather than something. That somebody was suddenly standing next to the kitchen table.

"Good morning" he said and she looked up so fast she almost hurt her neck.

"Oh, good morning, Will! I'm so sorry, did I wake you up?" she said with a hint of shame. She stopped reading the paper and folded it.

"No, you didn't, don't worry, I was awake long before you were," he said, but she couldn't see if he was lying or not.

He sat down on the chair on the other side of the table.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"A lot better than yesterday," she replied, "my throat still hurts, but not as much as it did yesterday. I'm not dizzy anymore, but I'm afraid I still have fever, my cheeks feel so hot," she explained and she moved her right hand to her cheek. Of course she wasn't able to feel if she still had fever, because the palms of her hands were feeling hot as well.

All of a sudden, Will reached out to touch her cheek, and when he did so, she froze. She hadn't expected him to do that. When he saw her reaction, he jerked his hand away.

"Of course, I'm sorry, I forgot to wash my hands!" he said, and now he was the one with a look of shame on his face.

Little did he know she didn't mind. Not with him. She really needed to tell him that sometime, it would make a huge difference. Today was not the right day to tell him.

"It's alright, I need to take a shower anyway," she said, and she felt a little bit embarrassed because Will thought she had frozen because of him touching her. Saying she had to take a shower certainly didn't make it any better, "maybe it's better if we eat first," she said, merely to change the subject, but it worked.

"Sounds great," Will replied and Emma left the table to get the things they would need for breakfast.

That's why they were having breakfast at seven on a Saturday-morning.

"Emma?" Will asked after a while, "would you mind if I use the shower after you?"

Emma misheard _after_ for _with_ and that resulted in her almost choking on a piece of bread, which resulted in Will looking worried. She finally managed to talk again after ten seconds and she realized her mistake.

"You okay?" he asked and she nodded quickly.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine. And of course you can use the shower after me," she said with the choking-tears still in her eyes.

After breakfast she made sure the washing-up was done first, thoroughly. After that, she took a lot of time to shower, even longer than usual. Forgetting about Will in the living room, she softly began to sing, something she usually did in the shower, but never with a potential audience.

_Don't know much about history__  
Don't know much biology  
Don't know much about a science book  
Don't know much about the French I took_

_But I do know that I love you__  
And I know that if you love me too  
What a wonderful world this would be_

When Emma came out of the bathroom with a towel draped over her shoulders to keep the water in her hair from dripping on her clothes, she almost bumped into Will, who was waiting in front of the door.

"Wonderful World huh?" Will smiled.

"How long have you been standing there?" she gasped.

"Long enough. And I would understand it completely if you think I'm acting rude, but I really like to hear you sing," he answered and his little compliment made her cheeks flush.

"Well...thanks," she said, "the bathroom is all yours," she did a step aside so he could pass.

"Thanks. I promise I won't waste too much water," he said with a small laugh as he shut the door behind him.

Emma walked back to the kitchen where the paper was still waiting for her to be finished, but she first made herself a nice cup of tea before she started reading the paper. She was only halfway with reading when she heard Will leave the bathroom. She couldn't understand how people could shower so quickly and still feel clean. She knew Will was, in general, a clean person, so she didn't bother too much. She looked at her watch. It showed half past eight.

Will entered the kitchen, his curly hair still shiny from the water that had poured down on it.

"Do you want some tea?" she asked politely.

"Actually, I'm more of a coffee-person myself, but, yes please," he said, and Emma got him a cup of hot tea.

"What are you going to do today?" she asked after she had taken a sip of her own tea, hiding the ache when she swallowed.

"Well, if you don't mind, I actually need to grade some papers, I took them with me yesterday. If you feel good enough, you can help."

"But I don't-"

"Speak Spanish. I know, but this is a multiple-choice test," he said, "you only need to know the right letter."

"I'll help," Emma said and Will looked grateful.

"Great!" he said happily, "to be honest I wasn't really looking forward to this, because the test was pretty big. But now I've got help of a smart woman, the work will be done twice as fast."

He got up to the living room and he returned with a pile of papers, which was indeed quite big, bigger than Emma had expected.

"That's...a lot," she said, a little bit surprised.

"I told you," Will said, handing her a red pen, which she cleaned, because she didn't know who touched it before, "now, let's get to work!"

* * *

**I hope you liked this chapter even though it wasn'****t great ;) Next chapter will probably have some skipping of time, because I'm writing this cute part and I can't wait to get it online. Don't worry, I won't rush things, haha.**

**I'm afraid I won't up****date so often anymore, because I have a lot of work to do for school! Hey, it's my final year at highschool, I need to study a lot. ;)**


	7. Chapter 7

**I really need to work on my maths homework, but I like to write on this story so much, I can't stop! I guess you don't mind, haha. **

**I skipped a lot of time in this chapter, yes, my lack of inspiration was that big. I hope I didn't ruin things this way. If I did, just tell me, so I know that for the next time I write a story like this. I started writing on this chapter as a chapter filled with cuteness, but the result is a mix between angst and cuteness. Sorry, I simply prefer angst to fluff!**

**What can I say? Uhm, of course I tried to write this as much in character as possible, but I have the feeling I lost it sometimes.**

**Again, I have no idea if the song suits the situation, but I think it did.**

**Hope you enjoy it anyway! :) **

**Chapter 7**

Lying awake at night, Emma thought about everything that they had done that day. It had started with grading the papers and after that her temperature had been measured again. And it had looked good this time, only slightly higher than average, which meant she was getting better quickly.

To her, it felt like the day had passed in a blur, certainly because she had felt better with the hour and only in the evening she had felt worse, but then the fever had returned slightly.

She felt much better, yet she wasn't able to sleep. Too many things were going on in her head. A lot of thoughts about Will. That wasn't really unusual for her, but spending so much time with him made it even worse. Today, there had be a moment when their legs had touched under the table and, even though she had felt childish afterwards for feeling that way, her mind was sent straight into the gutter.

She turned the light on and stared into her room. It didn't help, but she didn't feel like getting out of her bed. She almost jumped though, when she heard knocking on her bedroom-door.

"I saw light coming from your room, is there something wrong?" Will's voice said.

"I'm fine, Will, but I can't sleep, just like last night," she sighed, "come on in," she added and he opened the door and did a step inside her bedroom.

"I'm afraid I don't have another book to read you," he joked, "well, I'm glad to see you're alright, so if you don't mind I'm going back, the couch is waiting for me."

Emma thought about what she had thought the night before, before she fell asleep. If she wanted to give it a try, she would have to ask it him _now_.

"Will?" she asked, lying on her right side so she was facing him, "I have a question, I mean, if you don't want to, don't do it, but I don't think this...illness is really contagious, because you would've gone sick too for spending so much time with me. That's why I thought maybe...well, would you, would you stay?"

"I'll still be here tomorrow, I won't be gone," he said, but when she looked into his eyes, they talked without words, "you don't mean it like that, do you?"

She shook her head lightly.

"Right now," she whispered, barely audible, even in the silent room. She looked at him and he looked back and in his eyes she could obviously see the hestitation, "you have to understand, I'm not asking you to _sleep_ with me. I'm only asking you to lie here, with me."

Will frowned, "I want to, if you want me to, but are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, I don't want to be the reason you have to change your bedsheets tomorrow."

She got up, so she was sitting cross legged on her bed. She fumbled with the sheets.

"Will, I gave up the idea of you infecting my surroundings a long time ago."

"What do you mean?" he asked, closing the door behind his back and he sat down on her bed. Somewhere she felt he already knew what she meant.

"I mean, I don't care," she said breathlessly.

"You don't..."

"...care," she murmured, "not with you. I realized it would ruin anything going on between us, even if it wasn't there, even if it was only in my head. I thought you already knew I didn't care so much: I let you touch me, let you dance with me...and I let you kiss me, and I couldn't believe it when that happened, that's what I had wanted for so long, but it was...so selfish..." she suddenly felt the tears in her eyes, "Oh God, I just realized, I once told Terri that you deserved someone better than her! That was so selfish of me, and that doesn't make me any better than her!" she said, eyes wide open and the first tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Hey, Emma, don't cry," Will said, he inched forward on the bed and he caught her head between his hands, looking right into her eyes, "you need to understand that this world is full of selfish people, but you're not one of them," he spoke while he brushed her tears away with his thumbs, "you are one of the most honest people I know. And if you told Terri that I deserved better, then you were right."

She had stopped crying, but she bit her lip.

"And if you'd say that _you_ are that better person, I'd believe you without doubt," Will continued and Emma felt like her temperature rose with three degrees, "and if I told you that I would love to stay here with you tonight, you'd better believe that as well."

Emma's sad face faded and a small smile began to show on her face. She withdrew the white sheets to create some space for him and he slipped underneath. He lied down on his back, his hands tucked behind his head. He looked at her and he looked serious and happy at the same time, or maybe that's just what she wanted to see. Maybe he was gauging her reaction, she couldn't really tell.

She made it herself comfortable, lying on her left side, facing Will and their eyes locked. They weren't touching, and yet it was one of the most intimate things she had ever experienced. It was like opening up herself a little bit. She felt him swift slowly and she squealed loudly when his ice-cold foot touched hers.

"God, Will, your feet are so cold!"

He didn't say anything, he just laughed. When she felt his right foot move, her own right foot rested on his and moved along. When he noticed what she was doing, he smiled and lazily began to draw patterns on her foot with his toes. She giggled because she began to feel ticklish, but she didn't withdraw her foot. Emma captured his toes with hers so hers were in the gaps between his.

"What are you doing?" Will laughed.

"What are _we_ doing is a better question. I believe we're playing footsie," she giggled again. That was a bit unlike her, but she didn't care.

"Does this feel right?" he asked, and to her it sounded a little bit unsure, but that could be imagination.

"It feels great," was her reply and she lifted the covers and they both looked at their locked feet simultaneously, "your feet are big," she said, but then remembered what was said about men with big feet. She laughed softly and he laughed along.

"Oh, you have no idea," he said, which resulted her to have a new burst of giggles.

"I think I can't fall asleep like this, Will," she said and she withdrew her foot.

"Shall I sing you a song?" he asked and she nodded, "hmm, let's see," he said, but he didn't have to think long about a suitable song. He began to sing and Emma closed her eyes.

_When you're down and troubled__  
And you need some love and care  
And nothing, whoa, nothing is going right  
Close your eyes and think of me  
And soon I will be there  
To brighten up, whoa, even your darkest night_

You just call out my name  
And you know where ever I am  
I'll come running, to see you again  
Winter, spring, summer or fall  
All you've got to do is call  
And I'll be there, yeah I'll be  
You've got a friend

When the song was over, she sighed and said,

"I love that song, Will, thanks."

She reached for the light-switch and turned off the light. She then turned over. Her double bed was huge, but she could feel Will lying close to her. She could feel his warmth and hear his breath.

_Yes_, she thought, _I got what I wanted, this is good._

**Aww, that was kinda sweet, wasn't it? ****Next chapter will take a few days, I haven't written a single letter of it yet, but I promise I won't keep you waiting for too long!**


	8. Chapter 8

**First of all I want to wish you all a great 2010!! :D **

**Okay, on to this chapter: it's a short one, I promise the next one will be a lot longer!**

**Uhm, I hope I didn't rush things too much in this. Maybe you'll think it's rubbish, maybe you won't. Believe me, as much as I love angst, I also love to write fluff and this chapter is filled with it. **

**Anyway, I know you don't treat sick people like this, but I just wanted to write it, haha! ;)**

**Enjoy!**

Emma was feeling cold, so cold, freezing. She had the feeling her toes were turning into ice-cubes. She wondered since when it had been so cold in the morning. When she opened her eyes she saw why she was so cold: she wasn't covered. Her sheets had been pulled away by the person lying next to her, a person who was still asleep. Which wasn't really strange, there was no light coming from the window, so it couldn't be any later than 7 in the morning. She looked at her alarmclock on her nightstand, which said it was almost 6 in the morning.

She wanted to get covered and fall asleep again, but then she needed her part of the sheets back.

Not wanting to wake Will, she gently tugged at the sheets, trying to get them back. She failed at her attempt, but she didn't give up and she pulled again, only harder this time.

Maybe sharing the covers hadn't been such a great idea after all.

She was too tired to get up this early, she really wanted to sleep some more. She swallowed and growned, she had almost forgotten about her throat.

With one last tug on the sheets, they almost ripped, so she stopped trying. Her attempts at not waking Will had failed as well: he slowly turned around with his eyes half-open.

"Hmmm, what are you doing?" he murmured with a sleepy voice, "what time is it?"

"It's almost 6 AM, Will, I'm so sorry for waking you, but you have pulled away all the sheets from my side of the bed," she replied and she switched the light on. Indeed, all the sheets were on his side of the bed.

"I see, and now you're cold," he said when he saw the goosebumps on her bare arms. She blushed a bit when she noticed that he was staring. He unfolded the sheets, but instead of spreading them over the bed completely, he lifted up one side and he tapped on the matress with his flat hand.

"W-what do you want me to do?" she asked.

He shrugged lightly, "you said you were cold. It's warm enough under here. If you don't want to, just tell me, I'll give you back your part, but I remember you told me you didn't care."

"I don't..." Emma said, yet she hesitated. It was certainly warm there, but she didn't know if she was ready to share this moment. She would be ready some day, but she was doubting this was the right time.

"Maybe this is not the right time," Will said, like he had been reading her mind, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked you," he added and he handed her the corner of the sheet that belonged to her.

Instead of accepting it, she didn't touch it and she shook her head. Her lips were slightly parted and she realized she looked confused. Actually that was exactly how she felt.

"I want to," she said, "I just wished this would have happened under different circumstances. I mean, you know, would this still have happened if I wasn't sick?"

"Emma, I'm not taking advantage of you, I could never do that," Will said, staring at her in disbelief.

She shook her head again, "oh, no, no, no, that's not what I was thinking," she sighed deeply, "I want to know why you're doing all this for me. You said that you care about me, but I don't believe people would do this for each other if they were just friends."

"You're right," he admitted, "I wouldn't have done this for anybody else," he said, his face was frowned.

She expected him to say more after that, but he remained painfully silent. She thought it would be a better idea to accept his offer to open up a little bit.

"Can I still, uhm, you know," she said, while gesturing to the place next to Will.

"Of course," he replied; his frown disappeared and he smiled instead.

Emma took a deep breath and moved her pillow, so her head could rest. Then she inched closer, very slowly. Then, finally, she was lying there, together with Will. Back to front. Her back. His front. She could feel his breath tickle her neck. And indeed, it was really warm there, but maybe that was just her body reacting on the slight distance between them.

To her, it felt like coming home after a long, exhausting day.

He covered their bodies with the sheet. For about twenty seconds, neither of them moved. Neither of them talked. The only sound that was made was the sound of their breathing, and the sound of the birds outside waking up and chirping.

They were enjoying the silence.

She could feel Will's arm moving and a moment later she felt his hand slightly resting on her waist. She could feel some sort of insecurity coming from that touch.

"It's alright," she murmured to reassure him. She immediately felt his arm encircle her waist and he pulled her a little bit closer. Emma was afraid she could never go back to sleep, because of the adrenaline rushing through her body. Fortunately, it faded away quickly and she relaxed. She reached out one arm to turn off the lamp on her nightstand.

Now it was pitchdark.

Then they were lying there, like it was the most normal thing in the world. She closed her eyes and breathed in and out.

She knew that she could get used to this, that she could get old with this, that she could be lying there until the end of time and still feel at ease.

After fifteen minutes, Emma felt she was almost sleeping, her breathing had become steady and slow and she felt her thoughts floating away into the void. Will must have thought she was already asleep, because he whispered something into her ear. His breath tickled her ear, but she didn't seem to notice. What she did notice were the words he whispered.

It was _those _three words.

Her eyes shot open and the words he said crept over her skin; they kept her warm like a thick, furry coat. The room was dark, but the smile that was showing on her face could've easily lit up the whole room.

Those words, said too much in this world.

And yet, strangely enough, they couldn't be said enough.


	9. Chapter 9

**I was kinda taken aback by the ****reactions last chapter got. I really appreciate all those reviews!! You make it even more fun for a writer to write.**

**Also, I want to mention that, in 2009, the name Emma was the most popular name for newborn girls in my country! I thought it was a funny coincidence ;)**

**I had planned to write more about this in the weekend, but I was so busy! And school has started again and well, I'm just very busy. I think I'll try to post one chapter per week, but I'm not sure if I will be able to keep up! That's why this chapter is not longer than previous chapter, like I promised.  
**

**We'll start where the previous chapter ended...**

**Chapter 9 **

The moment after Will had said those words, Emma felt her pulse quicken so much that, for a moment, she was afraid her heart was going to burst out of her chest. She placed her hand over her heart, she wanted it to stop beating so fast. Will felt her move, because he suddenly withdrew his arm, he let go of her. She quietly groaned at the sudden loss, but not quiet enough, because he heard her. She could suddenly feel the tension in his body.

"Are you still awake?" he said, a mix of fear and surprise sounding in his voice and he didn't try to hide it.

"I am," she murmured and she turned over so she was facing him. Even though it was still dark, the first sunlight of the day was coming through the window, so she could see the outlines of his body. She could feel his breath in her face, every time he breathed out.

"I'm so sorry, Emma," he said softly, "I shouldn't have told...well, of course I should have told you," he paused, "I mean, I shouldn't have said it while I thought you were sleeping."

"What are you afraid of, Will?" she asked and she felt herself holding her breath, like she was afraid a single burst of air could ruin this moment. She didn't get a reaction and she bit her lip. She looked at the dark figure in front of her and sighed lightly, she decided she had to do something, especially if she had messed up somehow. She slowly lifted her hand and she reached out to touch his face.

At first, she felt the slight stubble on his chin, and when she moved her hand, she felt something else, something unexpected.

She was surprised and also a bit shocked to feel the wet stain on his face.

"Will, are you _crying_?" she said, she didn't even try to suppress the gasp that made the way through her mouth. She heard him swallow.

"I guess I'm not so tough," he said and the way he said it made her almost cringe, "Emma, could you please give me some light?" he continued, "I'd hate to discuss this while I can't see your face."

She turned over once more and a few seconds after that, the room was bathing in light again. She blinked a few times, so her eyes could adjust to the light, then she turned to face Will. He had wiped away the evidence of his tears with the back of his hand.

He shook his head slightly, "I guess I'm just overreacting, I'm making things up."

"If there's something wrong, Will, it's the best to get it off your sleeve," she replied, the guidance counselor in her taking charge for a moment, "I might be sick, but I can take it."

"You need to understand, it's just...I want to do things right, but I keep on thinking about the fact that I'm still married, legally speaking. It's so hard to explain, but somehow it feels like I have messed up with you already."

"What do you mean?" Emma asked, her eyes widening even more than usual. She winced when she swallowed once again.

"Well, I didn't want this..._us_...to go too fast, but I was repeating those words over and over again, in my head," he said, "and then I suddenly felt ready to say it, but by the time I was ready to get those words out of my mouth for you to hear, to make it _real_, you had fallen asleep. At least, that's what I thought."

She nodded to encourage him to go on. At that moment, she couldn't say anything sensible anyway, so she let him do the talking.

He took a deep breath before he continued, "for years I've known what it felt like to love, but I had forgotten what it was like..." he paused, "what it was like to be _in_ love."

She couldn't speak and for a moment, it felt like she had forgotten how to breath.

"So...you meant it?" she asked, her voice shivering a bit, she was eager to ear the answer.

He moved, so his hand came to rest on her arm and his thumb began to trace patterns on the bare skin of her arm.

"Of course I meant it!" he said and a smile appeared on his face again,"Emma, I meant every single word, more than you'll even know. And I'm not gonna take those words back. Not ever."

She smiled widely while she felt that her cheeks were doing a pretty good immitation of a tomato. His hand moved up and he began to play with a few strands of her hair.

"And god, it feels so good," he whispered, still playing with her hair, curling the strand around his finger.

"What?" she muttered absently.

"It feels so good to be in love."

"I know," she said before she could stop herself, and now there was no turning back. Her eyes tracing every square inch of his face, and she was immensely enjoying the view. They stared at each other, not saying a single word. He let go of her hair and moved his hand back to her arm.

"It's still early. Do you want to sleep some more?" was his next question and she nodded, turned the light off and inched closer. She was so close now, their noses were almost touching. She knew she was going to blame herself so much if he got sick as well, so she hoped it wouldn't happen.

They were so close, it gave her shivers.

Will didn't ask, his arms simply encircled her waist, pulled her even closer and he didn't let go, like she was his lifeline.

Tired and happy as she was, she quickly drifted asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

**I ****didn't update this story for so long because I needed to write on my final thesis and a lot of other stuff. Yeah, don't ask, we have to do stupid, but oh-so-important stuff like that in our final highschool year. That's why it took me a long time to write this chapter. I know how it feels like for a reader to wait so long, so I'm sorry. I was so busy with school, I actually nearly had a nervous breakdown, at least it felt like I was going to have one. Don't worry, I'm alright now. ;)**

**Sorry if this chapter is bad. I believe school has sucked away all my inspiration and I think it isn't going to come back soon. I personally think this chapter has a lot of blabla-rubbish, but that's just my view on it.**

**Chapter 10**

After what felt like a very, very long time, Emma started to wake up again. She could tell it wasn't dark anymore, because she could see the light in the room through her closed eyelids. She could hear the cars passing by and the birds flying around and chirping. Like the world had started to live again.

Emma opened her eyes and they immediately widened, because her nose was literally three inches away from Will's. Will had already woken up and he was smiling at her. She liked it, that this was the first thing she saw when she woke up, but it freaked her out a little bit as well. It was all new to her after all, maybe that's why she felt that way.

"Hello sleepyhead," he said softly, like they had been waking up like this for years.

She suddenly had the feeling that she needed more space. Not that she minded being so close to Will, not at all, but she needed some time to wake up and she wanted to do that with a bit more space. She moved away from him, so she was on her back instead of her side. He was still looking at her and she was staring back. They didn't say anything for about a minute. They simply enjoyed the view. Emma was the one to break the silence.

"What time is it?" she asked slowly, and she yawned; she needed a few more minutes to wake up completely. She knew this was not a dream, yet she feared it wasn't real. It was like, suddenly, reality was seeping into her head until it hit her. She didn't understand why it had taken her so long to understand that Will lying in her bed was _so wrong_ and _so right_ at the same time. She sighed, trying to ban those conflicting thoughts out of her head. She needed to deal with them later, now was not the time.

"It's almost noon, if I'm not mistaken," Will replied, still looking at her. Maybe he liked what he was seeing, she couldn't tell. The only thing she knew was that she didn't look so good with bed hair.

She growned, "I can't believe I've slept so long!"

"Maybe you needed it?" he suggested.

"Hmm, I guess so," she murmured, "You seem much more awake though. How long have you been awake?" she said while she rubbed her eyes.

"Long enough to watch you sleep," he said and he smiled mysteriously.

She grinned and shook her head slightly.

"You're a sneaky man, Will," she said, a smile lingering on her face.

"Believe me, I'm so much more than you give me credit for," he said and he wiggled his eyebrows, which resulted in a burst of giggles from Emma.

"Ouch!" she sudddenly exclaimed. "It still hurts a bit," she explained and she pointed at her throat, "but not that much."

"But you do feel better?" he said and she felt his fingertips graze against her throat. She only jerked away for about one second, but she immediately realized her mistake and she bit her lip. She felt so ashamed, but one look at Will told her that he hadn't actually noticed. Or maybe he had, but he didn't show it, which made her feel a bit more comfortable.

"Uhm, yeah, I do. A lot better," she said, knowing it had less to do with the current feeling of butterflies salsa dancing in her stomach than with her body condition at that moment, but of course she didn't tell him that.

"If you excuse me, uhm, I'm going to take a shower," she said and got up from her bed. Her bare feet touched the cold floor, "daily routine," she added, and she got some clean clothes and some towels from her closet. She could feel Will's eyes on her and she tried to ignore the faint blush that appeared on her face.

When she had left Will in her bedroom -which sounded really strange in her head- she looked into the bathroom-mirror and she couldn't help but smile to herself.

"Do you even realize what happened?" she asked the reflection in the mirror.

Reality was finally hitting her. In a good way.

Even though she was having bedhair, she felt beautiful, in a way she never had before. The man of her dreams had confessed his love for her, even if it was accidentally, but he had said he wouldn't take it back. It made her so happy and it scared her so much at the same time, but she knew she would get over the anxiety she was feeling, eventually. She wanted to, she needed to.

She shook her head, glared at the mirror, she smiled once more at herself. Then she was ready to take a shower.

When she stepped out of the bathroom, nice and clean and ready for a new day, she saw Will standing in the hallway, looking at her, like he had been waiting for her. She looked at him and she might have looked scared, because Will instantly went into worry-mode again.

"What's wrong?" he asked, and he stepped closer.

"Nothing's wrong," she shook her head lightly, "I just didn't expect you here."

"Well, I am a sneaky man after all," he joked when he realized everything was fine. Emma smiled back at those words, he was using her own words against her. She actually liked it.

And secretly, she wanted to know what more of those sneaky things he could do, but she had the sudden urge to clean.

"Will?" she asked, hestitation sounding in her voice, "I thought, uhm, since I'm feeling a lot better, maybe I could do something productive today."

"Like what?"

"I was thinking about doing, uhm, everything," she said.

"You mean every-..._what_?" he replied, raising his eyebrows.

"I mean, everything needs to be cleaned," she said quickly, in case Will thought she was implying something else.

Will nodded, "I see. Maybe I should measure your temperature first? If it's normal again, you can clean all the way you want,"

"Alright," Emma said, and she hoped her temperature would be back to normal, because her house was in need of a lot of cleaning. She was getting a bit itchy because of all the possible germs floating around and sticking on the surfaces of her furniture and her floor. She went to get the thermometer, cleaned it and handed it over to Will so he could measure her temperature. Again, him touching her ear and neck sent shivers up her spine.

"Hmm, your fever seems to be gone. That's a good sign!" Will said happily, like it was himself he was talking about.

"It is," she agreed.

"Now you can go and do whatever you want. I could help you if you want?"

"Thanks Will. That's very kind, but I want to do this myself. No offense, but I just...well..."

"I understand," Will said, "and it's alright. I'll be taking a shower and after that I'll be preparing my lessons for tomorrow, so if you might need me after all, just ask."

Emma nodded, "alright, thanks."

She turned around walked towards the kitchen to get prepared, her mind already in cleaning-mode.

"Oh, and Emma, one more thing," she heard Will say and she turned around again.

"Yes Will?"

"If you suddenly feel worse or get a headache or feel dizzy or anything, please stop. For your own health. Okay?"

She nodded firmly, "Okay," and turned around again and walked towards the kitchen.

"The kitchen, the living room, the bathroom, the windows" she mumbled, a thing she was often doing when she was going to clean her house. Which was about seven times a week.

Which meant she would have to do it very, very thoroughly this time, because she missed two days.

**I know there was a lo****t of uhm, non-dialoguein this chapter, and there wasn't really any fluff, but I'll make up for that next chapter! Thanks for reading. ;)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Yay, another chapter! Sorry, this one took very long as well, but I was still very busy and everything. Now I have mid term break so I'll be able to write more!**

**The BTS-pic with the Mary Poppins cardigan inspired me to write the first part, haha. (I have to admit that I listened to the song mentioned in the fic a lot of times while I was writing this chapter ;) )  
**

**I've got mixed feelings about this chapter. On the one hand I think it's good, on the other hand I think it's... too forced...I don't know.**

**Chapter 11**

While she cleaned the kitchen, Emma was humming a song that had always caused her trouble singing out loud when she was a kid. Not because her parents didn't allow her to, but because the lyrics were pretty hard. She had always loved Mary Poppins, but when she was ten years old, it had taken her quite a while to learn how to pronounce Super-cali-fragi-listic-expiali-docious.

She stopped humming and started singing out loud. When she began to sing the chorus a smile appeared on her face.

"I've always respected people who could pronounce that word," Will's voice said behind her and Emma almost jumped out of her skin.

"Will! I didn't hear you! Are you going to play sneaky all the time now?"

He grinned and shrugged, "maybe."

She smiled, but she made sure he didn't see him. She continued scrubbing the floor.

"You've been cleaning the kitchen for over an hour now. What about a break?" Will asked, "you need something to eat."

"A break. That's okay," Emma said, even though she'd rather clean the whole house at once, but she knew she needed something to eat, or she wouldn't be able to continue cleaning like this. "I really need to finish this part, I'll be done in a few minutes."

"Alright," Will nodded and he disappeared.

She hadn't lied, after five minutes she was done. She took her rubber gloves off and made them snap, because the sound of it always made her grin. She put away the supplies she had used to clean the floor and the rest of the kitchen. She washed her hands thoroughly and she started to prepare sandwiches for herself and Will.

"Oh, that's so sweet, Emma, you shouldn't have gone through so much trouble for me, I could've made something myself!" Will said when he came back and saw what she was doing.

"Sick or not, you're still my guest, Will, let me take care of you," she replied, "I'm feeling so much better. Maybe cleaning is my cure," she said, but in the back of her mind she knew that wasn't true: she had been feeling a whole lot better since Will was around to take care of her.

Will Schuester was her cure.

She finished the sandwiches and gestured that Will had to sit down at the kitchen table.

"What's-...oh," he said and he smiled, "your infamous PBJ sandwiches!"

"I know you liked them last time you ate them," she smiled back. She sat down as well and started to eat her own sandwich.

"Mmm, this is really good," Will said after one bite, "I was hungry like the big bad wolf and your sandwiches are the best!" he added.

"Will, what's with you and fairytales?" Emma asked between two bites, the question had been in her head since Will had read her Red Riding Hood, but she wanted to find the perfect moment to ask it. Well, this was that moment.

"Fairytales? Nothing, why?" Will replied, he was obviously surprised by that question. He was looking a bit confused, but Emma thought it looked cute.

"Well you were talking about the Big Bad Wolf and you called me Cinderella once-" she began, but Will cut her off.

"That's because you had gum on your shoe, it suited the moment!" he said quickly, "sorry, go on."

"Will, you read me 'Red Riding Hood'!" she said and she had keep herself from laughing.

"And your point is?" Will said, half-laughing himself.

"Well, you obviously do like fairytales," she stated.

"What? Do you think I've got some kind of fairytale-fetish or something?" he replied and he grinned.

"Oh!" Emma exclaimed, because she was suddenly picturing Will in a gnome-costume. Her eyes widened for one second, but then she bursted out in giggles.

"No...I didn't...I mean...uhm, no!" she giggled.

"Wow, tell me, Em, what's going on it that head of yours?"

Instead of replying, Emma started to laugh out loud, covering her mouth with her hands.

"Do I even _want_ to know?" Will asked and Emma shook her head, still laughing, her throat wasn't bothering her anymore.

"It's just that uhm, you don't really strike me as a person who'd like...fairytales," she said and she giggled again.

"Who says I need fairytales? I got my very own princess of flesh and blood!" he said and she felt her cheeks and ears turn very red. Her laughter stopped and now she looked very serious again. They finished their sandwiches in an awkward silence. She liked his compliments, yes, but she didn't like turning red, a thing that she, unfortunately, couldn't help.

After that, Emma cleaned their plates in silence, while Will watched her. She had politely declined his offer to help.

"So uhm, I'll go back to prepare my lessons, if that's alright with you?" Will asked her when she was done.

"Right, that's alright. I need to clean the bathroom, so I'll be doing that," she replied.

"Go ahead. If you need me, I'll be in the living room."

Emma nodded and Will disappeared.

She prepared everything she needed for her next cleaning session and she walked to the bathroom.

She spent three hours straight with cleaning and scrubbing, softly singing her favourite songs. When she heard the door open, she didn't look up.

"Are you done yet?" he asked.

"Don't be impatient, Will, you're not like that," she replied, but a small smile appeared on her face. She stopped rubbing the surface and rose to her feet, "could you please hand me the bleach? It's next to the sink, behind you."

"There you go," Will said as he turned around and handed her the bottle, or at least it looked like he was going to. Emma reached for it, but just when she was about to touch it, he streched his arm above his head so she couldn't touch it.

Emma, who expected to feel something solid, grabbed in the air. This caused her to lose her balance for only a second, but that was enough for her to stumble forward. Her gloved hands collided with Will's chest and his back collided with the sink. She had closed her eyes for a short moment, but when she opened them, their faces were so close she could feel his breath on her face.

Will was still holding the bottle in the air with one hand, but he had placed his other hand on her shoulder. Neither of them moved.

"I'm sorry, I think preparing my lessons makes me a bit childish," Will whispered. He moved his hand from her shoulder to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. She couldn't say anything, her mouth opened, but there were no sentences, no words to fill the silence. Her face reddened and she laughed nervously. She caught him staring at her, at her lips to be more precise, and she licked them involuntarily.

She realized that all she needed to do was move an inch or two forward to press her lips to his, and Will realized this too, she could tell it from the sudden change of the expression on his face.

"We're not doing this" he said, still talking softly, but the fact that he didn't move confused her. He could let her go if he really didn't want this, but he didn't.

"Actually, Will, I think we are," she said breathlessly.

She knew that he was right, this probably wasn't the right time, they probably shouldn't be doing this. It should've happened under different circumstances, but she was not going to let this opportunity slip. Now she knew that he loved her, actually loved her, she knew she could do this. Knew that she _should_ do this.

Before she could change her mind, she quickly closed the distance between their lips. He made a small sound, but then he responded to her kiss, being just as eager as she was. The hand that had been on her shoulder moved to her neck, his fingers slowly stroking her skin.

Emma closed her eyes and her hands made their way up to Will's shoulders. She was enjoying the feeling of his soft lips moving against hers. She knew it was silly to compare kisses, but this one was defenitely better than the one they shared before.

She heard a loud thump, but she ignored it, nothing could distract her from this moment. A second later she felt his arms encircle her waste and pulling her closer in a possesive way. Her right knee shortly collided with his and she felt his lips curl into a smile under hers. Her body was now touching his in so many places, she had stopped counting.

Will was the first to withdraw. Emma quietly moaned at the loss and she opened her eyes. She looked straight into his eyes and she saw a few things she couldn't name. Sure, there was lust and also confusion, but there was also...distraction? What could've distracted him so much? She felt a little bit insecure for a moment, she wasn't such a bad kisser, was she?

And then she felt it.

Her feet were standing in a liquid which was soaking her socks.

She realized what had happened. In his response to her kiss, Will had dropped the bottle of bleach and it had lost its cap. Now the content was leaking and their feet were getting wet.

She almost jumped away from the place the bottle was, her mind jumped into semi-panic mode.

"I'm so sorry Em, I really am," he said, she blushed at the use of that nickname.

"Don't be, Will, it's going to be okay," she said quickly, turning around to get the mop and bucket. She kneeled down and began to clean up the liquid.

"Do you want me to help?" Will asked, obviously feeling really uncomfortable.

"No, no, please, don't, I mean, I can handle this myself," she said while she furiously cleaned the tiles, "it's my fault, I shouldn't have ki-" she stopped in mid-sentence and looked at Will, the anxiety suddenly showing on her face, she hadn't meant to say that out loud.

Yes, she'd been wanting to kiss him like that since...since forever, but had this really been the right time? No. Did she feel like she had been taking advantage of the situation? Yes. Did it matter? No.

Will got down to his knees as well and he stopped her movements by simply placing his hand on her arm. She looked up.

"Do you regret it?" he asked, looking her straight in the eye. Mesmerized for a second, she found herself unable to answer.

"No," she whispered eventually and she shook her head.

"Good," he said with a smile, "me neither...Cinderella."

Will got to his feet and made his way out of the bathroom, he left her behind with her heart almost jumping out of her chest.

She realized it hadn't even appeared in his (or her) mind to dry his feet.

**Sooo...I hope you liked this ****chapter. :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**I'd like to thanks the lovely Sarah for editing this chapter for me.**** Thanks bb!**

Bella, if you read this, I'm sorry, but I thought you had either forgotten about this or accidentally deleted my message or something. Either way, it's okay, I don't blame you, but I really wanted to get this chapter online ;)

Alright, on to the fun stuff! This chapter is a bit of a filler, but next chapter will be a fluff fest!

**Chapter 12**

After Emma was done with cleaning up the mess, she washed her feet and put on a fresh, clean pair of socks. Then she returned to her task of cleaning the rest of the bathroom. Will didn't interrupt her this time, yet it took her much longer than usual. She had a lot going on in her mind and she couldn't really blame herself.

She knew that she was the one that had initiated the kiss. He had kissed her the first time, so now they were even.

One thought was nagging in the back of her mind. She had craved his kiss for so long, and yet it didn't feel right. He was still married and until that ring was off his finger and the papers were signed, she wouldn't give in to the temptation to do it again.

She entered the living room where she found Will gathering his papers. His back was turned to her.

"I'm done," she said softly and he looked around.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked and she fought the urge to roll her eyes. She really liked that he was taking care of her, she really did. Even more, she enjoyed it a lot, but she wasn't completely helpless. But Emma didn't want to come over as rude, because it just wasn't in her nature to be rude.

When she let her eyes drift over his body, she noticed he was barefoot and she smiled to herself, the thought that he felt comfortable enough to make himself at home warmed her heart.

"Your feet must be getting cold," She nodded down towards the floor.

"What's-...oh, that," he said and he rubbed his one foot against the other, "no, it's okay, I was about to get a clean pair of socks, but I like it better this way, my toes finally have some freedom now," he laughed.

"Will, I think you should put on socks, you might catch a cold," Emma said, immediately realizing the oddity of that comment: she was the sick person, not him.

"It's alright, I will, when I'm done here, which is...now," he said when he put the final paper on top of all the others.

Emma sat down on the couch while Will disappeared and returned with a clean pair of socks.

"Where are your dirty socks?" she asked.

"I uhm, threw them away."

"You mean they're in the garbage?" Emma asked and she raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

"Yes, I thought it was a lost cause. I'm not a star when it comes to laundry," He admitted sheepishly, lifting his hand and running his fingers through his dirty blonde curls.

"I could've washed them Will, they would've been clean again," she offered, not entirely convincing herself that she would have been able to deal with someone else's dirty laundry, but not wanting Will to be feeling as awkward as she could see he was feeling right now.

"I didn't want you to go through so much trouble for a pair of socks! Don't worry, it was an old pair anyway," he reassured her.

"Oh Will," she smiled and she shook her head, "alright then."

"Uhm, Emma," he seemed a bit embarrassed, "I know you've just cleaned the bathroom and everything, but I'd like to take a shower," Will said, biting down on his lip nervously.

"That's okay," she replied, she didn't ask why he suddenly wanted to take a shower.

"Thanks!" Will said and he hurried away. Emma raised her eyebrows, but she didn't ask any questions.

The phone rang and Emma got to her feet to cease the ringing and answer the call. Glancing at the caller ID and saw it was her mother, she smiled a little and let out a nervous breath before pushing the answer button and bringing the phone to her ear.

"Hi mom," she said, walking over to her sofa and allowing herself to fall back down, her back resting on the cushions as she closed her eyes and rubbed at her forehead.

"Hi Emma," her mother said, her tone questioning and a hint of curiosity escaped in her next words. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Emma replied, wondering why her mother called all of a sudden. It wasn't like her mother to call out of the blue, most things in Emmas life were structured, and she always made sure to set time aside each week to call her family and keep up to date with news and any advances her relatives had made.

"You do sound a bit hoarse though."

"Well, I haven't been feeling so well the past few days, but uhm, everything is fine now. Why are you calling?" she asked, sounding a little agitated, which didn't go unnoticed by her mother.

"Does the law forbid me to call my children nowadays?" her mother replied and Emma rolled her eyes. Her mother was in one of those snarky moods and she knew it was better not to mention it. "I was just checking to see if you're okay, but you're not, obviously. You were sick," her mother stated and Emma cursed under her breath, she didn't want her mother to find out, but she was her mother so she knew her so well. Emma would say _too _well.

"What did you have? The flue?" her mother continued, the concern in her voice now making Emma feel a little bad that she hadn't told her sooner, she knew her mother was a worrier and she could tell just by listening to the way she was breathing down the phone.

"Just a sore throat and fever, but the fever's gone now," Emma said quickly.

"But you're fine now? Are you sure?"

"I am, mum, really."

"I find it hard to believe that you went through it all alone, from what I recall, you don't handle sickness very well."

"Uhm, actually, I wasn't alone, there has been someone looking after me all the time."

"Wait, what? Who's this person? Please make your mum happy and tell her that it's that cute Spanish teacher you've been telling me about for ages!"

"Mum! Emma exclaimed and she was glad Will was out of the room or the situation might have been pretty awkward.

"Well?" her mother became impatient.

"Yes, it's him," she said and she let out a sigh.

"Aww sweetheart, thanks for making my day."

Emma rolled her eyes once again and she was glad her mother couldn't see her. At the same time, she heard a strange sound coming from the bathroom and directly after that, Will swore loudly.

"Mom, if you don't have anything urgent to say, I'm going to end this call," she said quickly.

"Alright, honey, take care, okay?"

"I will, mom...bye!" Emma said and she ended the call.

Then she hurried to the bathroom door.

"Will! Are you alright?" she asked, raising her voice a little.

"I'm fine!" he yelled back, "I just stubbed my toe and it hurts!"

"Do you need a band aid?" Emma asked.

"It's not bleeding!" Will replied, sounding a bit irritated. Emma shrugged and turned around.

It was time to make dinner. Emma moved to the kitchen to prepare something to eat for her and Will.

After ten minutes, Will appeared from the bathroom, his hair still moist from the shower. He was walking a bit awkwardly because he had stubbed his toe. Emma turned around and she stopped cutting the vegetables for a second, to prevent herself from cutting in her fingers.

"Will? Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine," he said and he entered the kitchen, looking over her shoulder. "Looks good!"

"Don't try to distract me Will!" Emma said, she was still a bit irritated by the call she just made. She put down the knife.

"I'm distracting you huh?" Will said and he let out a small laugh and she suddenly felt his fingers creeping up her shoulder. As much as she was temped to give into his touch, she slightly swatted his arm away.

"Not now, Will. I need to make us something to eat!" she tried to sound serious, but she couldn't help the smile that slowly made the way up her face.

"Alright, I'll be waiting," Will said and he left the kitchen, soflty humming a vaguely familiar tune.

Emma shook her head and tried to focus on the vegetables in front of her. How that man could make her lose her physical balance was impossible. She couldn't focus anymore and when she looked in front of her the vegetables were chopped up in tiny bits, a lot smaller than she needed and wanted. She groaned. She was slowly losing her mind, she was sure of it.

And it all was because of one man, the man that was currenlty humming songs in her living room.


	13. Chapter 13

**First of all, yes, cliché, I'd like to thank my readers and reviewers and my parents. I couldn't have done this without you! Also t****hanks again to Sarah for fixing my mistakes.**

**  
Okay, on to the new chapter.**** I have no idea when the next update will be because I won't have a lot of timing next two months.  
**

**Warning: you might want to see your dentist after you have read this chapter. ;)**

**Chapter 13**

During dinner that evening, Emma was constantly able to feel Will's eyes on her. Every time she noticed, she couldn't hide the blush that crept up her cheeks, but it didn't make her feel uncomfortable. Truth to be told, she felt amazing. She was secretly thankful for the past few days, even though the circumstances hadn't been perfect.

"Will," she managed to say when they had both emptied their plates, "I think I'm going to have an early night. I mean, I have to go to school tomorrow, and so do you."

"I think that's a good idea. Are you sure you feel good enough to go to work tomorrow?" Will replied.

"I'm sure," she said, "if I feel worse tomorrow morning, I can always call the school, but that won't happen. I feel fine."

Will nodded, got up from the table and started to collect the dishes.

"Oh, Will, you really don't have to do that," Emma said, "…Let me do that."

"Let me help you, you're not getting all the fun!" Will joked and Emma rolled her eyes, but she couldn't hold back a smile.

"Alright, if you insist," she said eventually, Will let out a small "Yes!" and she knew he was teasing her. And honestly, she liked it; they didn't have to be either sweet or serious all the time.

After they had done the dishes, they settled in front of the television. Emma realized she watched more TV when Will was around, but she didn't really care. This evening though, there was nothing really interesting on and they had just missed the local news, something she always liked to watch. She decided it was better not to waste a lot of time watching a program she wasn't even interested in. She needed to take her evening shower.

"I'm going to take a shower," she said while she moved off the couch, "you know, daily business."

"Sure," Will said, "take your time."

When she left the room, Will focussed on the television again, but she knew the program wasn't actually interesting him.

In the bathroom, Emma undressed and she made sure that her towels were in the right place. She didn't look as she turned the water on, expecting the warm water to spread over her body, but she got a very unpleasant surprise instead.

"Oh my God!" she shrieked. The water coming out of the showerhead was ice cold. She looked at the temperature; she realized it was almost 30 degrees colder than she was used to. Why would Will want to take such a cold shower? Her mind suddenly raced. No, no, that couldn't be the only reason. She shut her eyes and pinched the skin of her arm; she had to stop thinking about it.

The thing was, she couldn't stop thinking about it, not even when she was done showering and emerged from the bathroom with a confused look on her face. This was the look she usually got when she was thinking very deeply.

When she reached Will, who was still in the living room, she couldn't help herself.

"Will, why did you take a cold shower?" she blurted out and he looked up. He must have seen her panic stricken face, because when he talked to her, his voice was soothing.

"It's not what you might think," he said, "really Em, unlike most people I just like to take cold showers, but I forgot to turn the temperature back to normal. It's really not what you're thinking, I swear."

She couldn't bring out a coherent sentence, because she was still confused. She wanted to believe him, to trust him, but he made it very hard for her at that moment.

"Don't think about it, okay?" Will asked and she nodded, not really convincing him, "Emma," he said, getting to his feet so he stood in front of her, "I know this must bug you, but you have to let it go, it was nothing."

Emma focused and tried to gain the control of her thoughts. She looked at the face in front of her and she realized she had trusted him for the last few days, so why wouldn't she trust him now? Her inner voices were duelling, but the voice that said that she had to let it go, stabbed the other voice in the heart and won the battle.

"It's okay, I trust you, but don't do this again."

"I promise," Will said, looking a bit guilty and Emma immediately felt a hint of guilt under her skin. She had made him feel uncomfortable and she wanted to prevent that to happen. If they were ever going to be together, there would be many more awkward moments and she wanted to keep them to a minimum.

They both sat down on the couch again and Emma allowed Will to pull her a bit closer. At 10 pm, Emma felt sleepy and she had to hold back a yawn.

"You're tired," Will said, it was not a question.

"I am. I should go to bed," Emma said.

"I'll follow. I'm pretty tired, too," Will replied.

"That's alright, but no storytime tonight," Emma said and Will did a great immitation of a sad puppy, which made Emma laugh.

"I'll be right back," she said and she made her way to the bathroom again.

She brushed her teeth thorougly and put on her pajama bottoms and a clean tank top. She looked at the image in the mirror and she found a woman that had changed. Not her looks had changed, but on the inside she knew she had grown a bit that particular weekend. She went to her bedroom and she switched the alarm on: 6:00 am. She had no idea what time Will got out of bed usually, but this time he had to play by her rules.

She sat down on the edge of her bed, not really knowing what to do, when she heard a knock on her door. When she looked up, she saw Will standing in the opening. He was looking as handsome as ever in his pajamas and his bare feet. She smiled, but before she could say anything, Will started to talk.

"Do you want me to, you know, stay here?" he asked, looking a bit shy but trying very hard to hide that.

"Have a guess," Emma said and she created some space on the mattress, a gesture that was enough to give him the answer.

"Uhm...yes?" he guessed and she nodded while a smile brightened her face.

He made his way to her bed and this time he didn't hesitate before he captured her in his arms, they tumbled on the bed until they were safely under the sheets. They lay down together and her back was now touching his chest, she could feel his steady breath on her neck. All these little things her did to her sent shivers down her spine and she couldn't help it, she was just so crazy about him.

"Do you mind if I do..." Will said while he nuzzled her neck, "this?"

"Why would you even bother asking...if you're doing it anyway?" Emma murmured and when Will laughed she felt the warmth of his breath spreading across her neck. She shivered.

"Are you cold?" he said, but she knew he was teasing her.

"Don't be silly, Will," she said lazily, turning her head as far as she could, "I _am_ tired though."

"Time to sleep?" he asked.

"Yes," she said and she turned off the light.

"Goodnight, Emma," Will said, and what he did next made her blush furiously. He brushed away a few strands of her hair and he pressed his lips against the side of her neck. His kiss lasted for only a few seconds, but that was enough to drive Emma crazy.

"Will, don't do that!" she groaned.

"Sorry," he whispered, but she could still hear the laughter in his voice, "why not?"

"It's _too_ good," Emma replied in all honesty.

"Too good? I'll take that as a compliment. Thanks Em," he said and even though she couldn't see him, she could totally imagine the smug smile on his face.

"I'm not kidding, Will. You really shouldn't do that. I can't do...things I'll regret later, because I can't, I just can't," she said softly, feeling a bit embarrassed, though she didn't exactly know why.

"It's okay, I understand. I won't do it again," Will said, "so, now it's time to sleep."

Emma closed her eyes and let her body relax, but there were still too many things going on in her head, the light switch in her head just wouldn't go off. After twenty minutes Emma hadn't fallen asleep yet. She could neither toss, nor turn, because she was safely kept locked up in Will's arms. It would be impossible to escape his human cage, but then, this was the only cage she'd ever wanted to be locked up in voluntarily.

"Will?" she whispered into the dark.

"Hmmm?" was his sleepy response, he slowly rubbed his thumb against the fabric of her tank top.

"I know this is going to sound childish," she said, clutching the sheets a bit, "but I can't sleep."

"Me neither..." he replied, "there's too much...too much going on in my head right now, but I won't bother you with that," he continued, "Emma?"

"Yes?"

"Could you please turn on the light and turn around?"

"What? Why?" she thought that was a rather strange request. She needed her sleep and she was not going to get that when the light was on.

"You'll see," Will said mysteriously.

Her curiousity was triggered and she turned the light on. Then she turned around to face Will, her back suddenly missing the warmth of his body against his, because now there was a small divide between them.

"What do you want to do?" Emma asked.

"Wait and see," was his reply again, "I want to try something. Do you trust me?"

"I do."

"Great," he mumbled, she had the idea it was more to himself than to her.

He stretched his arm and touched her skin. His hands were cold so she let out a small gasp, but she felt her body relax as soon as he touched her. Neither of them said a word. She let him do the work.

His fingers traced her visible bare skin. First he touched her hands, then he slowly followed the trail up her arm. His fingers stopped when they had reached her upper arm and they moved like they were playing the piano, but he was barely applying pressure on her freckled skin. She sighed slowly, the feeling of his hands against her skin made her feel very comfortable, it was very soothing. She closed her eyes while his fingers continued to dance.

She opened her eyes again and looked at him, studying his face. His eyes were focussed on his fingers and his mouth was slightly opened. He looked like he was hypnotized.

When his fingers moved up to touch her face, their eyes met. His expression changed and he smiled guiltily.

"Hey," he whispered.

"Hey," she replied, even though she knew that didn't make sense. She was surprised that she even managed to say something at all.

"Why did you do that?" she asked.

"I think I just wanted to touch you."

"_But you were touching me, you're touching me all the time," _she wanted to say, but she kept her mouth shut, because she didn't mind, she didn't mind at all.

"Did you like it?" Will asked, but there was a faint hint of uncertainty in his voice.

"I did. It relaxes me," she admitted.

"Do you want to try it?" he asked, suddenly sounding relieved.

He didn't wait for an answer, he simply held out his arm so she could touch it. She immediately understood what he was aiming for and she reached out to graze his skin with her fingertips.

Her fingertips made their way up his arm and she felt his muscles twitch underneath her touch. His arms were so strong and she didn't want to be held by any other than his. She bit her lip while her fingers continued their journey. She rested her fingers in the crook of his elbow. She soon found out Will was really ticklish, because he grinned when she moved her fingers, though his arm didn't move.

Then she suddenly grabbed his hand and locked her fingers with his. She let their joined hands rest in the space that was between them. His thumb rubbed the skin of her hand. She closed her eyes.

"Hmmm," was the only sound she made "…This feels like coming home."

She felt a rush of sleep and she closed her eyes. This was the first, and probably only, time in her whole life Emma fell alsleep with the light on.


End file.
